Investing Koala

Apple’s revenue -4% to $90.4B in Q1, net profit -2% to $23.6B

Apple announced a (world-)record $110B stock buyback and a 4% dividend increase, sending the stock +6% in the after-market

• Half of Fortune 100 companies have bought Vision Pro units.

• Tim Cook had vague promises on AI: “We have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era, including Apple's unique combination of seamless hardware, software and services integration, groundbreaking Apple silicon with our industry leading neural engines, and our unwavering focus on privacy, which underpins everything we create.”

Quote on finding your path:

"If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's." - Joseph Campbell

The clear path is the safe path. It's well-marked and well-lit.

But if you want more out of life, you have to leave it behind.

Enter the woods and carve your own.

An idea to define a life of success:

Emerson's Definition of Success

This may be the best definition of success I've ever come across:

"To laugh often and much: To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'd break this down into Emerson's 9 pillars of success:

1. To laugh often and much: Laughter keeps us young. Without laughter, you aren't really living!

2. To win the respect of intelligent people: Earning the respect of people you admire (my adaptation on "intelligent people") through the way you live your life.

3. To win the affection of children: Children see through BS. You cannot earn their affection without being kind, genuine, and trustworthy.

4. To earn the appreciation of honest critics: Earning respect of good faith critics through the way you live your life.

5. To endure the betrayal of false friends: Surviving the inevitable betrayals of people you thought were friends. Painful, but impossible to avoid.

6. To appreciate beauty: Expressing gratitude for the tiny daily beauties all around us.

7. To find the best in others: It's easy to point out the flaws in others, but it's much better to seek out the best in them and focus there.

8. To leave the world a bit better: Taking daily actions to improve the world's condition, whether in a grand or tiny way.

9. To know one life has breathed easier because you lived: Acting in the service of others, rather than solely in the service of the self.

So much beauty in these ideas and words.

How are you doing on this definition of success?

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